Maccabi relocating to Pionir arena for remaining playoff games / News - Basketnews.com

Maccabi Tel Aviv have decided to play their home playoff games in the Aleksandar Nikolic hall, where up to 1,000 spectators might be allowed.

Credit: Srdjan Stevanovic/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Srdjan Stevanovic/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Due to the war in Israel,Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv have been forced to play their home games outside of the country. Instead, all their home contests, except the very first one in Tel Aviv before the war broke out on October 7th, were held in Belgrade with limited fan capacity or none at all.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv / Schedule

Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv87-91 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens Maccabi Playtika Tel AvivThu18:15 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensTue16:00

With less than a week remaining until the series againstPanathinaikos AKTOR Athensturns to Belgrade, the Israeli side were looking to increase the fan limit that's currently being enforced, Or Shkedy from Walla Sport reported.

However, due to the limit for Game 3 being set at only 300, Maccabi decided to move to the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall (Pionir arena) for the remainder of the series, Walla Sports reported.

That's where they played all home games in the season except for the opening game against Partizan that was held in Israel and the last game of the regular season (vs. Milan), when they made use of the vast Stark Arena. At the moment, only the third game of the series is guaranteed, but if Panathinaikos win the second leg in OAKA on Thursday night, the fourth game will certainly take place in the same venue.

Their current record in the Pionir arena is 11-4 (73%).

Maccabi are also expected to have fans on their side following a request to the Belgrade police to increase the allowed number of spectators. It is not yet known how many will be allowed, but they are trying to secure the presence of 1,000 fans.

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